What is Byzantine Dots?
It turns a page of Byzantine chant into Braille, so that a chanter or student who is blind or has low vision can read it by touch. You photograph the page; the app recognises the signs (neumes, time signs, martyriae, phthorai) and writes them in Braille using the method of the monk Dositheos, approved by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece in 1960.
Who it is for: chanters and students with visual impairment, teachers and schools of Byzantine music, families and organisations preparing material in Braille.
- Upload a photo, image or PDF of one page.
- Recognition finds the signs and turns them into Braille in a few seconds.
- Download the file for a Braille embosser, or read it on a Braille display.
Detailed instructions and tips · The method and the thesis · How accurate is it?
Step 1: Upload a score
Step 2: Result for all pages
Download
- For a Braille embosser.brf, all pages in one file
- eBraille text.txt in Braille ASCII, for a Braille display
- Unicode Braille.txt with dots, for printing or email
To view, hear or correct one page, convert it on its own.
Step 2: Result
No Byzantine music signs were recognised. Try a closer photo with more light and the page straight, or a good-quality PDF.
The first reading found few signs, so the image was straightened and cleaned automatically.
The lyrics were not read from the scan, so the Braille contains the music only, with a new line wherever the score starts a new line. You can type the syllables with the "Correct" button, or try the automatic reading of lyrics under "More settings".
The lyrics were read automatically from the image and may contain mistakes. Check and correct them with the "Correct" button before printing.
Download
- For a Braille embosser.brf, ready to emboss
- eBraille text.txt in Braille ASCII, for a Braille display
- Unicode Braille.txt with dots, for printing or email
- Recognition data.byzocr, for correction or archiving
Braille
Read aloud
eBraille (Braille ASCII)
Tips for Braille displays and screen readers
- On a Braille display, eBraille gives the clearest result with your screen reader set to 6-dot computer braille (in NVDA, the output table "English (U.S.) 6 dot computer braille"). Each character is one cell.
- .brf files work with all Braille embossers and most portable Braille devices.
- In the "Recognition check" list, move with the up/down arrows; Home/End go to the first or last segment. Each segment is read with a description of its signs.
- Recognition progress is announced automatically every few seconds.
Check and correct
Select a segment to see which signs of the page it comes from. With the "Correct" button, or by clicking a sign on the page, you can fix what was recognised wrongly and also type the lyric syllables.
Warnings
Places the converter cannot write with certainty, because the Dositheos method does not cover them or we do not support them yet. It does not guess: it marks them. Find them in the segment marked ⚠ and check them, or fix them with the "Correct" button.